In the middle of the template is the canvas where the students will add the words for their poem, story, greeting card, or creative writing piece. At the bottom of the work area is a text box where the student can type in their name.

Left Side

On the left side of the template are 100 standard (non-themed) words in alphabetical order. These include the typical words needed to create sentences and phrases. I pulled these words primarily from the Dolch Word List, based on the words I felt would be the most familiar, needed, useful, and versatile. In addition to words, this list also includes some word fragments, such as “ed”, “ing”, and such, that can be added to other words to modify them.

Right Side

On the right side of the template are the 79 Valentine-themed words in alphabetical order. I tried to include a variety of words related to Valentine's Day, like you might see on a card or in a poem. At the bottom of the list there are also some blank tiles of various sizes that can be used to type in your own words as needed.

By laying out the template this way, students are able to see all of the words at once, and quickly find the words they want to use.Using the Template

Once you have your own copy of the template, you and your students can create your poem or other writing as follows:

Drag and drop words from the left and right sides onto the middle work area. Drag around the words as needed to place them where you want.

If you need more than one copy of a word, simply copy and paste it. You can select the text box for the word, then choose “Edit” and “Copy” and “Paste”, or right click and “Copy” and “Paste”, or press Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.

If you need to edit an existing word, just double-click inside the text box and make the changes you want, such as capitalizing the word, changing the tense, making it plural, or such.

Note: If you change an existing word so that the new word is longer, you will likely need to click and drag the edge of the text box to make it bigger to contain the new word.

If you want to add your own words, double-click inside of any of the blank text boxes and type in the word you want.

Keep in mind, you can also edit the template before you share it with your students if you wish to add some words or remove some words to better fit the needs of your class.Sharing your creation

When you are all done (or at any point in the process) you can share your Google Drawing using the blue “Share” button just like any Google file.

However, another option when done is to download your creation as an image. This will allow you to take that image and use it in many ways:

To download an image version of your Google Drawing, do the following:

Click “File”

Choose “Download as”

Select “PNG image (.png)”

Google Drawings will only download the work area of the Drawing, not the word banks on the left and right sides of the main canvas.

Your image will now be downloaded and ready to use.

Conclusion

As educators we are always looking for new and creative ways to inspire our students to write. Hopefully this Google Drawings Valentine poetry template will provide you with one more trick in your bag to use with your students.

If your students create poems with this template, I would love to see what they make. Please feel free to share your creations, ideas, suggestions, and questions in the comments area below.

Love, Love the magnetic activities. I teach k-6 technology at two schools. I love using your template. However, I need to differentiate for different grade levels by adding harder/easier words. How do you create the magnetic tiles? Thanks for your help in advance. dpbennett@graniteschools.org

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